We all create our own opportunities and we need to believe in our dreams so that they do come true.

My passion for science started very early. I was attracted to natural science through encouragement of my mother, who is a pharmacist. I started my studies at Faculty of Pharmacy when I heard about the IUS. I had a chance to talk to Dr. Daria Ler, who was the one who introduced me with the curriculum and got me interested in enrolling to IUS.

I took the entrance exam and started my studies at IUS program of Genetics and Bioengineering. Soon I realized this was the best decision since all lectures were in English and a lot of professors came from European universities, thus we learned from the books that were used at European universities. We had a lot of journal clubs so we could read different scientific articles and we had a chance to hear all about hot topics in the science. During our studies we learned how to write and present scientific papers as well as develop our own ideas. We had to do internship in other labs and this experience helped me a lot to gain better perspective of techniques and analysis used in molecular labs. I personally was delighted that we could develop small projects for our master thesis and to explore the topics that we were interested in.

After finishing my master thesis at IUS and performing my practical part of the thesis at Institute for genetic engineering and biotechnology (INGEB) I was more attracted to field of cancer biology. I moved to Hamburg, Germany where I did my PhD studies. I worked at the Institute of Tumour biology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE). I was lucky that my wish to work in cancer research came true and I managed to work in such great institute and learn so much. I had a chance to work in the field of „liquid biopsies “and my PhD thesis was focused on the potential of miRNA as biomarkers in the blood of breast cancer patients. I got to do so many different experiments and work in well-equipped labs and modern facilities. During this period I also had a chance to publish my research in peer-reviewed journals.

After finishing my PhD I decided to continue my career in beautiful Hamburg and I started my Postdoc at department of Neurosurgery UKE. There I had a chance to be involved in the projects that were focused on potential biomarkers in brain tumours mainly glioblastomas and meningioma. During my time at UKE I met great scientists and attended a lot of great talks. Beside all of the great work in the lab I also adapted to life in Germany quickly and gained some friends and now I can say that Hamburg became my second home.

I would recommend IUS to everyone. Education at IUS was definitely a great foundation for the start of my research career. We all create our own opportunities and we need to believe in our dreams so that they do come true. I am looking forward to see what future holds for me.